1.02.01.06 The Remaining Books
VI. THE REMAINING BOOKS.
Three books still call for passing notice on account of something peculiar in the treatment they require.
These are the Song of Songs, Daniel, and Esther.
1. The Song of Songs.— This book has received the most fantastic treatment, first at the hands of the Jews, and then from Christians. The Jews have read it as an allegory of the history of Israel. From the time of Origen— who set the unfortunate example for succeeding commentators— Christian writers have seen in it a parable of the relations of Christ and His people. This entirely groundless interpretation is supported by the chapter headings in our English Bibles, which uninstructed readers naturally assume to be correct and perhaps accept as part of the genuine Scriptures. When we have courage to abandon the vicious habit of reading our own thoughts into the Bible and take this book up without prejudice, we must acknowledge that from first to last it drops no hint that it is to be interpreted in a “spiritual “ way. Nor have we any justification in the New Testament for so regarding it; it is not so much as referred to in the New Testament. The only interpretation that comes honestly out of the text is that which sees in it a celebration of human love. It is either a collection of marriage songs found among the people of Galilee, or an epithalamium in celebration of a king’s wedding, or, as seems more probable, a drama in which a noble-hearted maiden resists all temptations to enter the royal harem and proves herself faithful to her shepherd lover. Thus it is a protest in favor of simple manners and an encomium of loyal love.
2. Daniel.— The peculiarity about this book is that it is now proved to have been written some 400 years after the times to which it refers. While we may believe that Daniel was a real person and that the book is founded on traditions of his life, it cannot be read as history. Still, it is most valuable for the grand lessons it sets forth on the martyr’s faithfulness and on God’s care for His servants in their hour of greatest danger.
3. Esther.— This, too, is not history, though it may be founded on a true tradition. It is a sort of historical novel, and it is not without value for the light it throws on the condition of the Jews during the later part of the Persian period. While the Jews have prized it as the pledge of their triumph over their oppressors, and sometimes made an unholy use of it in feeding the spirit of revenge. Christians have seen in the book, which never once names the name of God, a picture of providence implying in every line of it that God is protecting His people. For commentaries on the various books of the Old Testament, see Cassell’s “Commentary for Schools,” “The Cambridge Bible,” and ’’The Expositor’s Bible.”